


The Snatchers

by prompt_fills



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Dystopia, Friendship, Gen, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 07:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5197286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/pseuds/prompt_fills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two sets of gliders were to be seen high up in the sky. One group surveyed the North-West of the city, the other scanned the South-East. Their dark rectangular shape could be easily spotted. They were not hiding, they were there to be seen. A radio announcement could not have been any clearer.</p><p>His father’s heavy hand fell to his shoulder and Fernando glanced up. This was the moment they had been dreading since he was marked three months ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Snatchers

Two sets of gliders were to be seen high up in the sky. One group surveyed the North-West of the city, the other scanned the South-East. Their dark rectangular shape could be easily spotted. They were not hiding, they were there to be seen. A radio announcement could not have been any clearer.

His father’s heavy hand fell to his shoulder and Fernando glanced up. This was the moment they had been dreading since he was marked three months ago. There had been no hunting since then, not until today. The expression on his father’s face was carefully neutral but Fernando could see the pain in his eyes. Fernando wanted to hug his father one last time and tell him to say his goodbyes to his mother and sister but they were in public now and the less emotions was displayed the better.

His father’s fingers convulsed around Fernando’s shoulder and Fernando hung his head low. “I’m sorry, father,” Fernando mumbled, his lips barely moving.

“Not your fault, son. Not your fault,” came father’s whispered reply.

It had been Fernando’s fault. Had he not stayed out on the streets after the curfew, none of this would have happened. To his defence, no one could have predicted the Southport Bridge collapsing in the early evening hours and preventing hundreds of people from getting safely to their homes. His mother had been crying when he snuck back home the next day and she cried even harder when she saw him again, alive and well. Then she noticed the mark on his ankle and she was near hysterical.

One of the gliders made an ominous twist above the town hall and changed its course back to the mountains. They had seen the manoeuvre enough times to know what it meant. “Go hide, father,” said Fernando under his breath. He was proud that his voice did not betray his turmoil of emotions.

The hand dropped from his shoulder and his father walked away without ever once glancing back at his son. Neither of them could voice their goodbyes but it did not make their departure any less final.

Fernando sunk down on the muddy slope above the river and watched the gliders circle the city. He could not hide together with his family. Came the sunset, they will be looking for him. He could not risk guiding them unthinkingly to his whole family. It was more than enough that his niece had also been marked – three years ago. The first night, her aunt was willing to hide her in the cellar under the house and the snatchers did not get to her. She had been in hiding ever since. Her aunt claimed she had not seen her in over a year and half. Whether she was too afraid to even make a contact or had she finally been snatched no one knew. At every occasion, they were all told the story as a warning but it had not help Fernando any.

Fernando examined his left ankle, the thick black mark he had there made his eyes prickle whenever he looked at it. Such a stupid mistake for which he would pay the ultimate price.

Heavy steps were approaching over the rubble. The crunching was too loud for anyone well versed in the art of snatching. Everyone else who did not have a death wish had already been holed up anywhere that could pass as a safe place.

“Kimi, why aren’t you home?” Fernando half turned to the newcomer.

Kimi stopped two feet away from him. “No one’s home,” he said flatly. Kimi’s parents never seemed to be home. No wonder the boy took to wandering the streets and getting into all sorts of trouble. He would not tell anyone about his antics, not even Fernando, but Fernando had heard the stories all right. It was not fair that between the two of them, the snatchers would be getting Fernando.

Somewhere bellow in the city, the alarms went off. Fernando turned back to watch the city. The sky was marred with streaks left behind by the aircrafts and from the West, the sky was already darkening considerably.

“Why aren’t you home?” Kimi asked after a while.

“Because everyone’s home,” Fernando said, pointing to his marked leg to make it absolutely clear.

Kimi sucked in a sharp breath through his nose but otherwise remained quiet.

The day surrendered to the night.

Fernando raised his hand and pointed to a dot of light in the sky. “You should go before they get here, Kimi.”

“You should go, too. At least try before you give up.”

Fernando smiled. There was nothing warm in that smile. “It’s better if I go out alone. Wherever I go, they would follow.”

Kimi bent down to offer him a hand. “No one’s home,” he said, this time more lively.

Crossing the Riverside Park, they run into the first scout. They spotted him sooner then he spotted them. Kimi had unceremoniously flung Fernando to the ground and they pressed under the branches of the bushes growing by the side of the path. The low branches concealed them both and the scout passed them within a few minutes without discovering them.

The town was full of the scouts. There were forces on foot, in the air and driving around the city in their cars. Expertly, Kimi dodged them all. “Not far from here,” he murmured into Fernando’s ear in a single breath when they crouched behind an overturn railway wagon.

The searching lights never even got close to finding them and true to Kimi’s words, they were soon climbing over the fence into a well-kept garden. They were in the better quarters of the city, Fernando realized. The house they were entering was close to a mansion, easily the most beautiful building Fernando had ever been invited to. Kimi had never mentioned this and one could never tell judging from the rags he preferred to wear.

“Wow,” Fernando whistled.

“Quiet,” Kimi reminded him harshly, fumbling with the key to the sun lounge. Fernando immediately fell silent and he did not let out the breath he was holding until they were safely inside.

The sun lounge extended from the hallway. The house seemed to be very spacey and the entrance hall opened to a magnificent staircase.

“My room’s on the second floor,” Kimi instructed and set his foot on the staircase. Fernando went to follow. “Hold onto the railing. Lights at this hour might attract unwanted attention.”

“Of course.”

The lights in the hall were suddenly switched on. Two snatchers came forward. Fernando knew right then that there was no chance. His affliction was clearly visible to anyone who had been trained to see it.

“Mother? Father?” The confusion in Kimi’s voice seemed to be genuine. Fernando felt equally confused albeit for a different reason. They had all been told what the snatchers look like but there was no description of the people who would pretend to be your friends and then happily hand you over the moment they got the chance.

The pair of snatchers looked from Kimi to Fernando and the man stepped forward. “We’re proud of you, son,” the man said with the same flat intonation Kimi always used.

In all the years Fernando had known him, Kimi’s face has never betrayed so many emotions. Kimi was backing up the stairs until he was plastered against the wall but the snatchers had their backs turned to him, watching Fernando intently. If the look of pure horror was anything to go by, Kimi had not been secretly plotting to stab Fernando in the back, after all. Their friendship had not been an act. At least Fernando was lucky enough to have lived through some of the better days, then. Many were not so lucky. Fernando felt relieved for the first time since he watched the Southport Bridge go down into the river. 

He did not blame his friend.

He wondered if Kimi could read the forgiveness in his face. That was Fernando’s last coherent thought.


End file.
